Exegenesis

Answers in Egypt

I’m no scholar, biblical or otherwise, just a man with Google in hand, but here’s some aspects of the ancient Egyptian gods I've found which are strikingly similar to the those of the characters in the biblical story of Genesis:

ATUM (Tem):
“…in the myth cycle of An (GR Heliopolis), the Netjer “from Whom all Names emanate”. Like the Biblical God, Tem begins creation alone in the Nun, the deep void, or waters of potentiality.”
http://www.kemet.org/glossary/tem.html

“The Memphite creation myth puts him as the first creation of Ptah, who simply said his name and he came into being.”
http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/atum.htm

“…he was the first substance (a hill) who emerged from the primeval waters… The Memphite creation myth stated that Atum was conceived in the heart of Ptah and was created by his word. Literally, "he who completes, or perfects".”
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/atum.html

“Sometimes Atum was thought to have originated as a serpent in Nun, and to be destined to return to that form; but through his identification with Re, serpents became his enemies.
…He overcomes the dangerous snake Nehebu-Kau by pressing his fingernail on its spine. Before Gate 9 of the Underworld, Atum stands confronting the coiled serpent Apophis, condemning him to be overthrown and destroyed.”
http://touregypt.net/featurestories/atum.htm

“…Totality, in reference to Atum, implies an ultimate and unalterable state of perfection. Atum was the monad from whom all else originally came.”
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/atum.htm


So 'Atum' sounds like 'Adam', in more than just name.
Anyone familiar with the bible’s creation story will recognise these elements: a perfect created being, a character who gives names to all, a deep void/waters from which arose the first land, the ‘crushing’ of a serpent in a future confrontation...


Yet he’s not the only one:

Ptah:
“…a creator god who brought all things to being by thinking of them with his mind and saying their names with his tongue.”
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/ptah.htm

“Ptah is sometimes seen as an abstract form of the Self-Created One, Who effected creation through the actions of His heart and His tongue, and Who "set all the Netjeru in their places and gave all things the breath of life."”
http://www.kemet.org/glossary/ptah.html


Khnum:
“Khnum, was thought of as responsible for the creation of mankind, which he made from the mud of the Nile on his potter's wheel.” http://www.exn.ca/egypt/story.asp?st=Tour&id=2000021461

“So Khnum fashioned the body of Amen-Ra's daughter and the body of her ka, the two forms exactly alike and more beautiful than the daughters of men. He fashioned them of clay with the air of his potter's wheel and Heqet, goddess of birth, knelt by his side holding the sign of life towards the clay that the bodies of Hatshepsut and her ka might be filled with the breath of life.” http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/khnum.htm


This isn’t the whole story for each of these gods, but my point is the similar traits they hold to their counterparts in the Genesis creation story.

So which came first?

The gods mentioned above are some of the earliest known gods of ancient Egyptian culture.
It is common knowledge that Egypt existed long before Israel. Even according to the bible Israel, ie. Jacob himself, supposedly visited Egypt in the time of Joseph, before the tribes had grown from his offspring.

The tribes of Israel supposedly then lived in Egypt for about 400 years, long enough to gain full knowledge of the beliefs of their masters.

Exodus 1:11
“…And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses."

Here (according to the bible) the Israelites build the city of Pithom.
Pithom, or Per-Tem, means “House of Atum”. So both Egyptians and Israelites knew the Atum story before the Exodus.

The Torah (first five books of the bible, including the Genesis Creation story) was supposedly written by Moses, which if true (and it is disputed) would had to have been after the Exodus from Egypt.

If it’s not obvious already:

Acts 7:22
“Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.”

Mighty in deeds indeed, he led a major rebellion and virtually gave birth to an entire nation. Of course he's going to have to give them a religion and a set of laws, and of course he's going to borrow from what he, and they, already know...

So maybe Christian Creationists should be making their apologetics for Egyptian culture?